[Stitcher]

Battle looms in right-to-die initiative

Wash. petition drive wrapping up

By Stuart Glascock, Los Angeles Times | June 23, 2008
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/ar...ie_initiative/

SEATTLE - A looming battle in Washington state over efforts to create a right-to-die law for the terminally ill is a personal one for two men leading it, both of whom are ill. Fighting for the measure is a former governor who wants the freedom to exercise such a right; fighting against it is a former press secretary who can't imagine anyone wanting to.

Proponents are wrapping up a petition drive for Initiative 1000, a death-with-dignity measure that is expected to be on the November ballot.

The initiative would let a doctor prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill patients who are believed to have less than six months to live. Oregon is the only state with such a law; the US Supreme Court upheld it in 2006.

Fronting the cause for advocates is Booth Gardner, 71, a two-term former governor of Washington. He has Parkinson's disease and has declared this to be his "final campaign."

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